United Future Party, Consecutive TK Members Not Running... Daegu Interviews Delayed by One More Day

Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the United Future Party, is attending the interview screening of the nomination management committee held at the National Assembly on the 20th, undergoing the nomination interview. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Kim Hye-min] The candidate screening interviews in the Daegu region, which had been postponed once on the 19th, were delayed again due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), but declarations of non-candidacy by Daegu and Gyeongbuk (TK) lawmakers continued. Representative Choi Gyo-il, who was involved in a 'strip bar suspicion,' and Representative Kim Kwang-rim, who had protested by saying "Is TK a doormat?", declared their non-candidacy as the 4th and 5th in TK, respectively, and Representative Kang Hyo-sang also expressed his intention to run in a difficult district instead of Daegu.

As the Public Official Recommendation Committee (Gonggwanwi) postponed the TK region interviews, continuing to pressure senior lawmakers to step down, Representative Kim, a three-term lawmaker from Andong, Gyeongbuk, and a Supreme Council member, declared his non-candidacy on this day. He is the fourth in the TK region. On the 6th, at the Supreme Council meeting, he targeted Gonggwanwi Chairman Kim Hyung-o by saying, "Every election season, due to the call for renewal, the phrase 'Is TK a doormat?' headlines the local media."

Representative Choi, from the Yeongju, Mungyeong, and Yecheon districts of Gyeongbuk, also announced his non-candidacy via Facebook, stating, "I feel a heavy responsibility for not meeting the expectations of the people."

Additionally, Representative Kang, who had planned to run in Dalseo-byeong, Daegu, gave up his candidacy there and expressed his intention to run in a difficult district in Gangbuk, Seoul. This was just two weeks after officially declaring his candidacy for Dalseo-byeong, having completed the nomination application and preliminary candidate registration on the 5th. He said, "In the dangerous situation where the country is heading toward ruin, what great meaning would it have if I personally won in Daegu, where our party's support is relatively high?"

However, despite the non-candidacy declarations by these three lawmakers, the number of non-candidate lawmakers in TK is still about half that of PK. Chairman Kim Hyung-o of the Gonggwanwi has no choice but to act as a 'swordsman.' The committee is proceeding with the nomination process by setting the TK region cutoff rate at 50-60%.

On this day, interviews for Seoul and Gyeongnam regions were held at the United Party interview room in the National Assembly Members' Office Building, where the Gonggwanwi meeting was held. Representative Hwang Kyo-ahn entered the interview room in the morning along with eight other candidates. In the afternoon, interviews for former Representative Hong Joon-pyo and former Gyeongnam Governor Kim Tae-ho were also conducted.

Originally, the Daegu region interview schedule was also set for this day, but it was postponed due to a surge in COVID-19 confirmed cases within Daegu the previous day. The Gonggwanwi postponed the TK interviews scheduled for the 19th by one day and then delayed them again. Although COVID-19 was cited as the reason on the surface, it cannot be ruled out that the unexpectedly low number of non-candidacy declarations in the TK region influenced the postponement. In the Busan and Gyeongnam (PK) region, 10 lawmakers had declared non-candidacy by the previous day, but only three in TK.

Meanwhile, as the United Party's nomination process gains momentum, the satellite proportional representation party, the Future Korea Party, is also appointing Gong Byung-ho, head of the Gong Byung-ho Management Research Institute, as the chairman of its nomination committee and is starting full-scale nomination work.

The Future Korea Party plans to hold a Supreme Council meeting this morning to approve the appointment of Chairman Gong and then hold an official press conference in the afternoon. The Future Korea Party stated, "Chairman Gong is an economic expert who served as the first president of the Free Enterprise Institute and an author of over 100 publications," and added, "Led by him, we will recommend proportional representation National Assembly candidates through democratic procedures that meet the public's expectations."